Preserving traditional medicine
By Dr. JACOB L SIMET
ON APRIL 24 2008, the Health Department, together with the Medical Faculty of the University of PNG, launched the first ever ‘National Policy on traditional Medicine’. This was the culmination of many years of work by the Department and particularly staff of the Medical Faculty.
This was a historic event for traditional medicine in PNG, but also for the world. Historic for PNG in that, finally Government has taken the bold step of recognizing an important part of the national health delivery service, which has never been officially acknowledged in the past.
Historic in the global context; as many countries of the world do not recognize traditional medicine, and have not incorporated it into their national health delivery systems; still considering it to be not scientific.
There were four main speakers at the launch; the Acting secretary for Health, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of PNG, the Interim Executive Officer of the Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association of Papua New Guinea and myself, as Executive Director of the National Cultural Commission. The Acting Secretary for Health spoke on the Department’s position in relation to traditional medicine and highlighted the importance of traditional medicine in health service delivery in the country. The Vice-Chancellor spoke on the position of traditional medicine in academia and in which he highlighted the need for more research to be done on the value and efficacy of traditional medicine.
The Interim Executive Officer of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association spoke on behalf of all his members throughout the country and in which he commended the Government for finally recognizing the relevance and importance of traditional medicine in Papua New Guinea.
I was invited to speak on the ‘Importance of Preserving Traditional Medical Knowledge and Practices’ and discussed this in the wider context of ‘Preservation and Protection of Traditional Knowledge’.
I gladly accepted this invitation as traditional medicine, being part of human knowledge; was a matter which had been of interest to me for some years. My contribution to this historic occasion was to highlight the importance of traditional medicine, to human societies in the past, the present the need for this to be protected and maintained for the benefit future generations.
Traditional medicine is part of that body of knowledge known as traditional knowledge. More often than not, this traditional knowledge is under the custodianship or authority of indigenous people or local communities.
Today we know that what we refer to as traditional knowledge has a scientific component which is referred to in some circles as “genetic resource”.
This is the basis of some of the debates and discourse currently undertaken in international fora such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
For indigenous peoples and local communities, as custodians of knowledge; traditional knowledge was and still to a large extent, is the basis of survival in these communities. This is particularly so where modern services and knowledge systems do not reach remote communities, such as in many areas of PNG.
Indigenous peoples and local communities recognize that much, if not all, of the traditional knowledge in their custody was received from their ancestors, as important parts of the toolkit for survival. As such it was part of the heritage of the clan, the tribe and the community as a whole.
As heritage, they had the obligation to receive it, use it and maintain it in good form, during their lifetime and then to pass it onto those who come after them. This is the principle of heritage management. In this connection, traditional knowledge of any kind was covered by specific rules and regulations which guided its “custodianship” and use. In more cases than not, it was a group which had custody over traditional knowledge rather than the individual.
At WIPO, in recent years there was some recognition of traditional knowledge as “intellectual property”, although there are problems with this terminology; to the point where it would be better known as just “cultural property” or “cultural resource”. For at least a decade now the Inter-Governmental Committee on Traditional Knowledge, Genetic Resources and Traditional Expressions of Culture (TCEs) has been dealing with the matter of protection of traditional knowledge. Interestingly, in its early years this Committee started off as the Inter-Governmental Committee on Traditional Knowledge. Later when the distinction was drawn between the scientific component and the remainder of the TK. The remainder of the TK was then recognized to have TK and TCEs. Thus the current name of the Inter-Governmental Committee.
At the WTO and most particularly at the TRIPS Council, there is that debate about the need for certificates of origin to be mandatory for patent applications. Clearly much of this has to do with the patenting of supposed novelties which may be of traditional knowledge origin. This debate is creating that clear divide between the developed and the developing world; due largely to the recognition that much of the TK and GR of the world are found in the developing world.
At international fora there is debate about protection, preservation and maintenance of traditional knowledge on the one hand and access of for industrial, pharmaceutical and other purposes, on the other hand.
Those who argue for protection, preservation, respect and maintenance of traditional knowledge are mostly from the developing world; led by groups such as the GRULAC, the African Group and the like minded Mega-Diverse countries. Those who are interested in developing ways and means of access to traditional knowledge are mostly of developed industrialized countries; perhaps led by the European Union (EU) and that group of countries now commonly dubbed as the JAZCAN (Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and often including the United States).
Unlike land, minerals, timber or fish; traditional knowledge, including medicinal knowledge is something man and women carry around with them everyday of their life; meaning that it is mostly kept in their heads. At the same time it can be discerned that they keep these quite close to their hearts also. It is true that indigenous people and local communities kept and still keep their traditional knowledge in their heads and very close to their hearts because they had no other way of storing them. However in many situations this was a matter of choice rather than one of convenience. For various reasons, including the need for secrecy and ensuring of integrity of the knowledge this could only be kept in the heart and close to the heart. It is from these two points where those who are interested in this knowledge will have to access indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ traditional knowledge. In this respect exploiting this resource has more direct consequences for the human person than land, minerals, the timber and the fish. This was an important part of their ancestor’s toolkit for survival, which they received as heritage; and which they are obliged to maintain in good form and pass onto those who come after them.
In this connection then, those of us who want to access indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ traditional knowledge need to be very well informed of the consequences of reaching into people’s heads and hearts to extract this information. Further we have to be responsible in the way we use the extracted knowledge and be mindful of the effects this may have on the indigenous groups and local communities.
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